The Political System and Parties
The Political System and Parties
The multi-party system in Hungary has resisted all kinds of theoretical speculations for some ten years and did not develop in the way textbooks of political sociology had prescribed it. Six political parties – seemingly by mere chance – occupied the seats in Parliament in 1990, while fifty other parties did not even have a chance of obtaining mandates. The same six parties made their way into Parliament in 1994, and, in addition, four of them achieved a score similar to the one they had after the first general elections. After the third general election in 1998, it was six parties again that formed the Hungarian Parliament. The only change was that MIÉP (Party of Hungarian Justice and Life), having received 5.5% of the votes succeeded KDNP (Christian Democratic Popular Party) that formerly received 6% of popular support – other than that, MPs only too well-known for a long time could greet each other on the benches of the Hungarian Parliament.
Even at first glance, the stability transpiring from the above must put us on our guard. It is rather thought-provoking that the Hungarian multi-party system demonstrates such forceful diversity, while the structures of the party systems in all other countries of Central and Eastern Europe have changed several times. It is true, however, that significant changes could also be observed behind the facade of constancy. The results of the second round of the general elections in May 1998 clearly indicated that one in three voters is tied to the left of the political spectrum and mainly considers MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party) to be the significant political force on the left. Another third of the voters considers Fidesz (Alliance of Young Democrats) to be the main organizing force of the political right and a party capable of governance. The remaining third of the voters – and this also means a huge number of people – is less tied to a single party or ideology. This last third of the voters is sufficiently large to be able to decide – amidst the conditions of tight competition – on the balance of political power one way or another, and thus form the conditions of governance as well.
By and large, the above are the most significant features of the structuring and social background of the Hungarian multi-party system, in its tenth year following the change in the political system. We must add here that there are no significant masses behind our political parties. Even the largest political parties in Hungary have a membership of 30-40 thousand at the most. In other words: the total membership of all six parties in Parliament makes up about 3% of the voting population, i.e., even the parties in Parliament have an extremely thin factual societal base. Such diminutive sociological features must at any rate be borne in mind if we wish to understand and explain the developments in the party system over the past two years.
Post-election Euphoria
Restructuring in 1999, from January till September
New Developments in the Spring of 2000
Dilemmas at the Turn of the Millennium
Some General Conclusions
